Welcome to GL High!
by Kaoden
Summary: AU High School fic. Zoro is accepted into GL High, a renowned school that takes extremely strong people from all over. All is not as it seems, however, since the school holds a dark secret as two opposing factions fight for contol! Dropped.
1. Introduction

A/N: Whelp, left for the beach on Friday and have been distracted ever since, so that's partly the reason of why I haven't updated in a while. The other reason is a sort of writer's block, but in a weird way. It's not that I can't think of anything, quite the opposite to be exact. Right now I have two ongoing stories where I don't know where I want to go with them. I try to think of everything that I want to happen with both stories inside of my head at the same time and it's slightly overwhelming. Add that with this new burning desire to write a Phoenix Wright fanfic (Phoenix/Franziska for those of you who are curious) and you have a smorgasbord of ideas that never go anywhere. Hopefully this will clear up my head a little and we can get back to a better pace. This chapter has no interaction, unfortunately. Instead it completely explains the setting of GL High (keep in mind it was written after Chapter 1). Lastly, it should be known I have very little knowledge on how Japanese High Schools work. I'm going to sort of wing it and try to get as close as I can to it, so…. yeah.

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GL High, an unusual high school with even more unusual staff and students. Prestigious in nature, though not respected by other higher class schools, GL High has students wear matching black uniforms. Nothing in particular separates the uniforms for the school from others; the boys have black pants with an unbuttoned black overcoat while the girls have a black V-cut dress with a dark grey skirt.

What differentiates the students of GL High from others, and the school for that matter, is the allowing of any color of undershirt and limited adornments on each student. As long as what the student is wearing beside the uniform isn't outwardly dangerous, i.e. an imminent threat, or inconsistent with the requirements, there isn't a problem. The undershirt must be a plain color with no writing or other graffiti on it and any extra belongings must be limited and keep to the personality or occupation of the student and/or teacher. As such, weapons are allowed to be possessed by students under the grounds that they do not use them.

GL High carries students and teachers of various abilities and powers. Naturally, it would be very difficult to administrate the multitude of people with only the staff of the school alone, so the 'Marine' faction was formed, indicated by a logo on the jacket. Students or staff who volunteered were admitted into the ranks of the marines and together they worked to keep the school under control. Somewhere along the line, however, certain members of the marines became corrupt and soon began to abuse their power.

In response to this corruption, some students and staff began to form groups intended to fight the marines under the guise of clubs. These groups were later to be identified as 'Pirate' groups. The principal of the school was placed into a precarious situation. Unable to disband the Marines due to the chaos that would ensue and aware of recent transgressions, the principal of GL High decreed that punishment could only be applied to students literally captured at the scene of their offense and that the Marines were not exempt from this punishment. This was the beginning of the battle for control of the school between the 'Pirates' and 'Marines'.

It isn't required to join either side of the battle. In fact, large amounts of students are neutral or oblivious to the situation at hand, not bothering with the struggle. Others help one or both sides without completely devoting their efforts to it, subtly helping out when they can. Although rare, some groups even offer their services for a fee, willing to fight for whichever side gives them the best incentive. Whatever a student decides to do, they are guaranteed to have something of an eventful stay during their tenure at GL High.

It should be noted, however, that although the feud between Pirates and Marines appears to be and is somewhat treated like a game, it is much more serious. Expulsion from the school is a regular occurrence to groups of people caught causing severe mischief and many times it is not the people who commit the calamity that are blamed and/or punished. The school, to avoid being tyrannical in its methods of discipline, follows a 5 point demerit system. Minor infractions generally result in a warning with multiple repeats eventually leading to a single point. More serious offenses can easily garner a single point, occasionally more. There has yet to be a violation caused by either party within the limits of the struggle that has merited anything higher than a 3 point demerit.

To prevent complete anarchy within the boundaries of the battle, certain limitations have been placed. These limitations aren't an established set of rules; however they are very closely followed by all who participate. Completely avoiding the acts of killing, lobotomizing, or otherwise seriously crippling a person is the most closely followed standard that all people of GL High follow and there has yet to be a case to involving any of the aforementioned acts. Fighting is allowed, though if students are captured during or directly after a fight they are given a minor infraction, causing them to get closer to a demerit point. Destruction of school property is highly frowned upon, although it is an expected result of some struggles. As long as the destruction is collateral, unintended, and not too extravagant, the consequences of destruction can be minor. More serious damage generally results in higher demerits and intentional mass destruction of school property is grounds for immediate expulsion. Other guidelines have been observed, but they aren't as prevalent and are learned over time.

Classes begin at 8:30 AM and end at 3:50 PM, though most students, if not all, stay on school grounds well after class is let out. Students are allowed to be on the premises of the school until 10:00 PM. Being caught inside or on school property after this time is grounds for a minor infraction. Students meet at the same room everyday and stay inside of it for most of their day, only leaving to do various activities such as Gym or a Lab. Teachers travel to different classrooms throughout the day to teach their subject material, returning to teacher offices on the first floor of the building in their free time.

The layout of the building is rectangular with three floors. There is a gymnasium outside the school with an indoor pool adjacent to the gym. Near the gymnasium are tracks and various fields for sports and other activities. A square area in the center of the school has staircases that lead to the second and third levels. Each floor is separated into four even areas, the bottom left being 1/5/9 on each respective floor, the top left being 2/6/10, the bottom right being 3/7/11, and finally the top right being 4/8/12.

Floor one is reserved mainly for teacher workrooms and laboratories. There are a few classrooms on the first floor, but they're filled with delinquents. The second floor is mostly consisting of first year students, although there are plenty of classrooms for second year students as well. If a second year student is on the second floor, they are usually in section 8, the other sections being reserved for first year students. The third floor is where all of the third year students and some of the second year students reside.

A large reason for the second and third year students being able to fit on a single floor is the abnormally high rate of expulsions. Having become commonplace, GL High compensates for the high rate by accepting a large amount of students, many never intended to make it past the first or second year. Because the rates of expulsions have become so rampant in recent years, a new policy has been instated in which at the end of every year, a single point will be removed from every student's demerit list. Requests can be made during the year for the same effect, though aren't generally accepted. Most common of these requests are students arguing a situation they had been blamed for, in which undeniable proof must be supplied to show they aren't responsible.

Lately there have been rumors of competitions between Marines and the Pirates. It is speculated that certain higher-ups in the demerit system have points as a reward for the winners of such competitions. The winners are supposedly able to give the demerit points to any of the parties involved or can subtract half of the value of the points from their own demerit record. Groups that were not associated in the event are supposedly not allowed to be given demerit points however all of this is speculation.

The newest batch of students entering GL High appears to be the strongest yet. Perhaps somewhere among these new scholars is the one person who will be able to fix the ever growing problems regarding the feud between the Marines and Pirates. Or, perhaps, there is a person who will spiral it completely out of control. Whichever it is, even if it's neither, it will be discovered in time.

_Ending Note: Was going to continue where I left off last chapter, but it felt better to just put this as an introduction page before chapter one. I hope I was able to create a good premise for the series of events that are to occur over the story. This gives me the option of creating conflict and allows me to have an overall goal to be achieved. Not to worry though, I have a good idea of what to put in the next chapter so it should be up relatively shortly, let's aim for Friday. Didn't mean to cut this short or to cheat you guys out of the story, but I wanted to explain the environment as best as I could so it wasn't a story in the complete dark. As always, I ask you guys to let me know what you think. Does the premise sound interesting? Are there any problems with it, any improvements? Feel free to let me know, things can always be changed._


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a requested story from burichifan, so hopefully I can do it justice. I don't know if I'll start taking requests on a regular basis, but I'm not adverse to it. If anyone has a type of story they would like to read/have me make in particular, feel free to post the premise of it in a review or a PM, whatever you prefer. I know what it's like to want a story written that never does, so I'll pick ones I like and go on from there. Feel free to request any story/setting/pairing you'd like, but keep the length around 1-3 chapters (my chapter lengths are generally anywhere from 2,000-3,000 words). Who knows, maybe I can make something of a regular schedule around it if enough people participate. Hmm, the more I think about this, the more I want to take it in a new, longer direction (don't worry burichi, we'll get to the romance in due time). This could be interesting, haha. For the record, we're completely ignoring age differences here as far as the classrooms/students go.

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_Beep... Beep… Beep…_

Zoro stiffened at the sound of the alarm attempting to wake him up, then relaxed as the welcome embrace of sleep overtook him again.

_Beep... Beep... Beep…_

The sound still ringing in his ears, Zoro thought nothing other than making it disappear. Turning his body away from his tormentor, Zoro grabbed an extra pillow lying next to him and covered his ears with it. Perhaps now he could finally shut out the noise.

_BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…_

The alarm, finally booming loud enough to wake the intended person, burrowed through the pillow covering him. Groaning, Zoro threw the pillow off of him and sat up, proceeding to slap his hand at the noise. Feeling only the cold wood of his bedside table under his hand, Zoro fumbled around trying to hit his alarm while his eyes were still adjusting to the light invading his room.

_BEEP… BEEP… BEE-_

The sudden halt to the deafening racket told Zoro he had succeeded in turning off the alarm. Still in a daze from waking up, Zoro stretched his arms upwards while yawning sleepily. Scratching the back of his head, Zoro finally turned to look at the clock. The time showed 7:53.

7:53…

Zoro's eyes shot open and he almost fell to the ground in a desperate panic. Throwing himself off of the bed, the young adult began hastily throwing on his school clothes as quickly as he could. School started at 8:30 and there was almost no way he was going to get there on time, a great way to start his first day, Zoro thought.

Half dressed with only his black pants and socks on; Zoro smeared some toothpaste on his toothbrush and shoved it into his mouth, chewing on it when his hands were tied up putting the rest of his clothing on. Sliding up his dark green haramaki, Zoro quickly grabbed his three katana that were leaning against his bedside table and carefully placed them in their proper spots.

After putting on a dark green, skin tight t-shirt that helped the haramaki blend in with his clothing, Zoro finished the outfit by sliding on the school's customary coat. After tossing the toothbrush in the sink, the green haired swordsman grabbed his bag and rushed down the stairs to the outside of his apartment. In his haste, the swordsman took down a passerby and nearly took down two more as well. Stretched for time, Zoro decided he couldn't afford to help the person he knocked down and yelled out a meager apology as he boarded a bus. The bus immediately departed after Zoro entered and he sighed in relief that he at least managed to get transportation to the school.

Zoro reached into his pocket and retrieved the crumpled piece of paper from within his pocket for what must have been the hundredth time. Unwrapping the poorly kept paper, Zoro read over the already memorized words that rested on the paper. 'Greetings, Roanoa Zoro, and congratulations, you've been accepted into G-L High School! We hope you are as excited…'

Zoro read through the introductory part of the letter until he reached the point of interest on the bottom. 'Remember, school starts at 8:30 sharp, so don't be late. The classroom you have been assigned to is room 6-K. Enclosed with this letter is a map of the school to help you find your way around for the first week or so, but we suggest you drop by earlier to get your bearings!'

The green haired swordsman had lost the map within a day of receiving the letter. Fearful of losing the paper that held his class information, Zoro had obsessively read the letter and kept it stashed in his school pants at all points, just to be sure.

It was when Zoro finished reading the letter a second time over that the bus stopped out in front of the high school. After placing crumpling the paper and putting it back in his pocket, the swordsman rushed out towards the school. The large clock above the main doorway read 8:22. He had made it in time! Now all that was left was getting to his class, surely there was a map inside the school somewhere he could use.

There was nobody in sight when the swordsman ran through the school grounds and into the building, but that was hardly surprising. Everybody was probably inside of their classes already, so Zoro had nobody to ask where to go. Noticing a large piece of paper on the wall ahead of him, the swordsman stopped to inspect it closer, it was a map of the school. Zoro scanned the large paper and discovered the location of his class. It was on the second floor in the top left section. Odd, Zoro thought, he had expected his classroom to be on the first floor.

Putting aside his question, the green haired swordsman hurriedly ran up the stairs in the center of the building, the staircase stopped and reversed directions going upwards halfway up. Reaching the top, Zoro ran through the hallways ahead of him, heading towards the left side when he could. Classrooms began appearing and Zoro checked the labeling for each room to find his. Something was wrong, however, as the swordsman was greeted with rooms numbered seven, not six. Pulling at his hair in frustration, the green haired swordsman began to realize that he was in the wrong section with no idea of how to get to the right one. A ringing bell signified Zoro being tardy to his first class after coming so close to making it on time.

Running through the halls in a desperate attempt to blindly find his classroom, Zoro turned a corner to slam into an unidentified person. The staunch figure hardly moved and the swordsman stumbled backwards from being off balance. Becoming even more agitated than before, Zoro looked up to the person blocking his path, though it was difficult since the person's face was covered in smoke.

A commanding voice boomed at the swordsman. "What are you doing out here in the halls after the bell? Class has already started. Get to your classroom before you're too late."

Zoro didn't move. There was something about the man in front of him that deeply bothered Zoro, but he didn't know what it was. Misinterpreting the standoff from Zoro as something more innocent, the figure pressed on. "Are you lost or something? Which classroom is yours? I'll point you in the right direction."

The green haired swordsman's continued silence began to bother his inquirer. Zoro crossed his arms and watched as the figure leaned in to inspect him. Dressed in the same clothing except for a light grey undershirt, a curious symbol resembling a bird holding a wrench on his coat, and a row of cigars directly beneath the symbol, Zoro's inquirer revealed a stern looking face with grayish-blue short hair. One other thing that stuck out to Zoro was the two cigars resting in the corner of the figure's mouth.

"You're testing my patience. What's your name? What are you doing here?" Asking the new line of questions without any response, the unknown person's patience was finally beginning to wane. With a deep breath, the figure took a large intake of smoke and blew it directly into the swordsman's face. "What's the matter… have a problem with me or something?"

Zoro didn't move when the person blew the smoke into his face nor when the figure leaned in even closer to further inspect him. "Actually, to be quite honest, I do. Why should I have to answer anything you ask me?"

Taking the cigars from his mouth to make the visibility better, the unknown person smiled. "New guy, eh? Fair enough, have it your way. You know, I almost like you… almost. The name's Smoker, you?"

Smoker's sudden change in the way he approached the swordsman startled him slightly, enough so to change his temperament towards the smoking individual. "Zoro."

Returning to his normal posture, Smoker's smile grew, albeit very slightly. "A man of few words, I like that. It's a shame we didn't meet under better circumstances. You appear to be lost, from the looks of it. Mind letting me know which classroom is yours? I'll tell you where it is."

Remaining silent, the swordsman simply retrieved the paper from his pocket and handed it to the grey haired smoker whose cigars were placed back into his mouth. Straightening the paper out, Smoker inspected the writing on the parchment.

"6-K, huh? I see what you did, you forgot to take into account the staircase changing directions, happens all the time." Smoker then pointed in the direction Zoro was trying to run before bumping into him. "Anyways, keep heading down that way, it will take you to the main area with the staircase. Go the opposite way you used to get here and you should be set."

Moving to the side, Smoker allowed Zoro to pass him, handing the piece of paper back to the swordsman. Brushing past him without taking the parchment, Zoro continued walking and halfway down the hallway waved without looking back. "Thanks."

Crumpling the piece of paper in his grasp, Smoker glared at the back of Zoro's head. Defiant to the end, the swordsman was. Smoker could tell that the punk was going to be a loose cannon. He would have to keep an extra eye on him and anyone he associated with.

Finally reaching the class at what had to be 15 minutes after the bell sounded, Zoro was about to enter the class when someone exited before him. His path obstructed once again, Zoro could only stand and wait as the new figure turned to face him. Now facing the swordsman, the figure, with slicked back black and green hair, raised his palm upwards to readjust his glasses which had begun to slide down.

"So you must be Roanoa Zoro. Late to class on your first day, pathetic. I have no doubt in my mind that you won't last even a single year in this school. Enjoy it while it lasts, I guarantee you it won't be long." Turning and walking away before Zoro could even respond, the new figure hunched over with his hands in his pockets.

What kind of school was this, Zoro thought to himself, was everyone here as foul tempered and confrontational as the two he had just met? Hoping it wasn't the case, the swordsman opened the door to his classroom and finally walked in. Bustling with activity and noise, Zoro walked and sat in the only available seat, feeling much too irate to bother seeing who he was sitting by.

His swords leaning against his desk and wedged by his bag to prevent them from slipping and falling, Zoro leaned back with his hands supporting his head and decided to take a nap. Before he could accomplish his task, the green haired swordsman heard the door open.

Sighing and leaning forward again with his arms resting on the desk, Zoro expected the teacher to be yet another highly angering individual that would no doubt have a problem with the swordsman. Looking at the teacher, Zoro almost had to do a double take to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

Standing behind the teacher's desk was a feminine figure that captivated all who looked on it. Even though she was in business attire, it did nothing to hide the sleek and slender curves that enveloped her body. Her purple shirt, under a black coat, was unbuttoned enough to enhance her voluptuous appearance without being too revealing. An unusual, yet uniquely flat and bridged nose decorated her face with light blue eyes surrounding large pupils which gave her a mysterious and penetrating stare. Raven colored hair cascaded down to around shoulder length, though the front of her hair was cut into bangs. A small, charming smile graced her lips and she turned and to begin writing on the blackboard next to her desk.

Zoro found his eyes involuntarily drifting downwards and found himself inspecting her from the bottom up. Heels, though not particularly high, served to only pronounce the woman's stance to become more alluring and attractive. Smooth, long legs captivated the swordsman even more as his eyes began drifting up, and as he was about to get even higher he felt a sudden pain as the person to his right kicked him in the leg.

"Oi, bastard, what are you staring at? Don't be getting any ideas, she's off limits and is mine. If you try anything, I'll kick your ass."

Clenching his teeth in pain and extremely pissed, the green haired swordsman turned to his new assailant. The person, expectedly, was wearing the same outfit as Zoro except that he had a blue undershirt on instead. Sporting blonde hair that draped down to neck level, the assailant gave Zoro a cold-hearted glare. The first thing Zoro noticed was the individual's ridiculous looking eyebrows; they curved in a manner that resembled a spiral.

Closing his eyes and shrugging his shoulders, the green haired swordsman responded to the accusation with a brash grin on his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about and what should I care if you have a thing for the teacher. It doesn't mean anything to me, so go ahead. I won't stop you."

The individual lightly laughed and wore a smirk afterwards. "Don't lie; I saw the way you were looking at her. Oh well, I guess it's better for me this way. Good thing the only competition I saw turns out to be too scared to take a little challenge. This will be too easy."

Eyebrow twitching, Zoro focused only on ignoring the recent comment, to give a response was to admit something that wasn't true and would only serve to give the bastard satisfaction. Turning his head to face the front of the classroom, Zoro reopened his eyes to see a name written on the blackboard, 'Nico Robin'.

"Hello class, my name is Nico Robin. Sorry for being late today, some things came up. As I'm sure you already know the man who was in here before was Mr. Kuro. Be sure to thank him for explaining the school and its policies in my stead while I wasn't here. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you were to call me Robin, there's no need to be too cordial when referring to me. If you do feel the need to call me something else, Robin-sensei is acceptable. I will be your homeroom teacher as well as your history teacher at the end of the day. I hope we get to know all of you well and that we have a pleasant experience this year." After finishing, the blonde haired student sitting next to Zoro stood up excitedly while cheering "Yessssss, Robin-sensei!"

Robin began to look over her students and noticed one in particular, a green headed student that looked at her in a way she had never known. It didn't take the swordsman long to notice Robin's gaze focusing intently on him. Not knowing what to do but unable to break the stare, Zoro felt his face flush and was light on breath. Finally having had enough, Zoro quickly glanced to the side, scratching the back of his head awkwardly afterwards. The year was certainly going to be an interesting one, he decided.

_Ending note: Hmm, this definitely should be an interesting fic. I took burichi's premise and added a little of my own flair and storytelling, so this should definitely shape up to be a longer story than originally intended. I think for this story that I'm just going to have everything from Zoro's perspective. To clear some things up, imagine one piece except in a high school environment. Everyone has their same powers and weapons, but it's just a different setting. I'll make back-story and will explain how this works as far as the school is concerned later. Still deciding what I want to happen and what characters I want in it (if it should be all OP chars or some OC ones too), but if it goes the direction I think it will this story will be told in three parts, each having multiple chapters to them. Please please please let me know what you guys think of this idea since your responses will determine how long this story will be (one year or three). It won't have any effect on my arc (One Piece: Handel Island, go read it and review nao!) but it will bump back the OC story for a little. Up to you guys!_


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Heyo, how's it going? I know it's been another chunk of time between updates for me, but I did write the first chapter for the collab story between myself and Santoryuu Soccer. I sent it to him a little bit ago so he could look at/double check it and once we finish up the touches it will come out shortly. In the meantime, enjoy this overdue update to GL High! No excuses this time, I just couldn't find a groove with this chapter, must have redone countless parts. I feel like I'm stuck in permanent introduction with these stories, let's hope I can get out of it soon and into the real meat of the stories. Enjoy!

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Zoro leaned his head against the window of the bus. He had been lucky to find a seat, much more so considering that he had a window seat. The swordsman was drained from the lengthy day he had at the school, and all he could think about was getting some sleep.

Closing his eyes, Zoro reflected on the events that had transpired earlier in the day. His homeroom teacher, Robin, had left shortly after her introduction and soon after the rest of the teachers made their way into the classroom, each introducing themselves and their subject before leaving for the next teacher to come in and repeat the process.

After homeroom, class 6-K was to be taught mathematics, science, language, geography, and finally history in that respective order, each class lasting an hour long. The schedule that the class was to follow was homeroom from 8:30 to 8:50, three classes after from 8:50 to 11:50, a 45 minute lunch break from 11:50 to 12:35, a special class from 12:50-1:35, and finally the last two classes from 1:50-3:50.

The special class was one students would have to travel to, varying each day depending on the room, and they had a 15 minute transit period to reach said classes. 6-K had gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with a computer class to fill the Tuesday and Thursday slot. Each classroom had a unique schedule that they would follow with the special class held at varying times in order to keep things less cluttered and organized.

The green haired student had watched begrudgingly as Mr. Kuro walked back into the classroom a second time after Robin had left only to introduce himself again as the class's math teacher. Zoro occasionally glared at the man, however the teacher never returned his glance, not once.

After Professor Kuro had left, Zoro decided that it was time to take a nap and slept all the way until lunch. While most of the class went around socializing with the intention of getting to know everybody, Zoro instead decided to keep to himself and enjoy his lunch in peace. The rest of the day went by relatively quickly and uneventfully, however the swordsman found himself unusually interested in history and what the teacher, Robin, had to say about it.

Right as he was about to leave the classroom for the day and head back home, Zoro was stopped at the door by a student donning the same emblem that Smoker had on his coat earlier in the day. The student had Zoro follow him into a room down on the first floor by what Zoro recalled was the administration area.

Inside the room was a man who introduced himself as the vice-principal and Professor Kuro. It didn't take long for Zoro to realize that Kuro brought his tardiness up to the assistant principal; however the green haired swordsman was still confused on why he was called into a meeting over something so trivial.

_"Ah, welcome, Roronoa Zoro. Take a seat."_

_After Zoro had taken a seat, the man continued._

_"Very good. Now, it had been brought to my attention by Professor Kuro that you were tardy today for your first class, is this not so?"_

_"I was."_

_"The good teacher also informs me that when he confronted you outside the classroom about it that you became extremely agitated and threatening towards him and—"_

_"What?! I didn't say anything to him! What are you talking about? He's lying to you!"_

_Zoro had looked towards the teacher and saw a vicious sneer on the man's face, his countenance otherwise completely unreadable._

_"Look, asshole, I don't know where you get off by lying—"_

_"__**And**__ that you became violent after he tried to explain certain school procedures and policies to you."_

_"…"_

"_What? Like I said, he's lying to you. Here's what really happened, when—"_

_"I don't care about what 'really happened', Roanoa Zoro. This is the first day of school and I already have reported threats against one of our staff. Considering the circumstances, who am I supposed to believe? A colleague of mine who's worked at this school for years, or some first year student who was late for class on his very first day of school?"_

_"..."_

_"Exactly. Considering that this is the first day of class and you were currently unaware of school policies, I will not penalize you for your actions. However, so you understand these are not acceptable actions, you will accompany the school janitor and help him until his work is finished."_

_The vice principal pointed to an older man who had just entered the room having heard his cue._

Zoro sighed. He thought back on the incredibly tiring tasks he had to do under the supervision of the aged janitor. The more the swordsman thought about it, the more he realized how stupid and unnecessary the tasks he was required to perform really were.

Zoro did think it strange that he was required to lift up the vending machines while the janitor took his time cleaning out the area under. It had actually looked like it had been years since the spot was cleaned. Grimacing and clutching his aching and throbbing arms, the swordsman silently cursed the old geezer for the hell he put him through.

There were more insanely strenuous and mind-numbing activities that the older janitor had put Zoro through, such as cleaning just about every classroom on the second floor, rearranging the desks, repairing a couple of recently broken walls, and more, yet the thing that kept nagging at the back of the green haired swordsman's mind was the janitor himself. If Zoro was having such a hard time on his own, how was the obnoxious old man able to do these things? He didn't like bragging, but Zoro knew that he wasn't just some weakling that spent all of his time doing nothing. He actively trained in his free time and made daily visits to the gym.

Strangely enough, the swordsman felt that the janitor would've had little to no problem doing everything he'd made the student do. Zoro couldn't understand why the aged, white haired man, who occasionally would pull out a flask and drink from, gave off such a powerful aura. He did, however, understand that the feeling wasn't one of trickery, but one of caution. The green haired swordsman had learned not to ignore his intuitions when it came to strength, a quality that had saved his skin on more than one occasion.

Zoro felt his face and body dip forward as the bus slowed down for its next stop. His cheek had stuck to the window since he hadn't moved much during the trip and it tugged a bit painfully, causing the student to open his eyes. Zoro peeled his face off of the window, rubbing it at first before scratching it when it itched. The student noticed that he had a slight bit of saliva resting on the corner of his mouth so he swallowed what he could and wiped off the rest with his sleeve. He hadn't realized how tired he really was and how close he had come to falling asleep on the bus. The last thing he needed was to wake up to be miles away from his apartment.

Looking out the window, Zoro recognized the stop as his own and proceeded to fumble through the crowd of people towards the door. After he exited the bus, a wave of exhaustion fell on the green haired swordsman and he checked his left wrist to see the time. Zoro pulled the sleeve of his coat back only to see his bare wrist, and it dawned on the student that he had forgotten to wear the timepiece in his haste to get to school. He hadn't thought to check his watch since the swordsman was preoccupied with reading the letter over and over again on the bus, and he was so used to wearing it that he couldn't tell if it was on or off.

The swordsman shrugged to himself. It didn't really matter that much in the end; he would just remember to put it on tomorrow.

Zoro entered the apartment complex and leisurely made his way up to his room, immediately casting off his school clothes once he entered. Although they weighed almost nothing, the green haired swordsman felt like he had removed an enormous weight off of his body. Feeling rejuvenated by the relief he felt in discarding his apparel, Zoro took off his school pants and put on a pair of dark green flannel pants that were much more comfortable and flexible instead.

Leaving his shirt off, the swordsman walked over to the mostly empty area that he reserved for exercise. Close to the ceiling of a part of the wall was a pull-up bar, under it a rack with various free-weights resting on it. Zoro relied on the gym for the heavier weights that he used, but the lighter weights he had served well for morning and late-night workout sessions. The swordsman had a nagging suspicion that he wasn't going to have much time to go to the gym anymore, especially if the recent day was any indication.

His arms aching once again, the green haired swordsman decided to leave them alone for the night and instead work on his lower body. After various exercises, Zoro collapsed onto his bed and wearily looked over to the clock. He decided to set the alarm to a little earlier than what it was on so he could have at least a _little_ extra time to get ready in the morning. After he finished messing around with the clock, Zoro buried his face into his pillow and let the embrace of sleep quickly overcome him. Before he passed out, the swordsman wondered what sort of crazy day he was in for tomorrow. He had been caught completely off guard by the insanity of the school on his first day and knew that it wasn't going to get any less complicated.

_Ending note: Argh, I'm very sorry about how short this chapter turned out. I've been writing, on average, around 3k word length chapters a lot lately and I guess it's starting to become the norm now. I actually planned to go a lot further with this chapter (into the next day) but it kind of felt right to end it here. In any case, this means that I'll be able to update sooner (since I know what will happen next chapter) and that the next update will be this story again. If you haven't noticed yet, I've decided to redo my first fic, An Opportune Moment, and added it as a second chapter so I can see how I've progressed. Hopefully that makes up for the small chapter, haha. Anyways, I don't know how strong this story is, but it seems to be pretty popular so I'll stick with it. It's not like it's a burden or anything if that's what I make it sound like, not at all (I rather enjoy it a lot). Just that I'm not confident with this story yet, hopefully that changes. One question before I end this note, I tried having something of a flashback without interrupting the flow of the story, how did I do? I didn't want to separate the chapter into sections or say that it was a flashback or anything like that, and I tried to convey the conversation without using too many actions. Was that a good idea? Did it work out? Let me know what you think._


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